FBI Paid Over $1 Million To Hack Terrorist’s iPhone….And Got Nothing

Short Bytes: FBI paid over one million dollars to an Israeli agency to hack into the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone. Some news agencies are reporting this step by FBI as an extremely expensive step and some are terming it as the largest ever paid for a hacking exploit. James Comey, FBI director, might not seem too concerned even saying, “It was, in my view, worth it.”

To hack into Syed Farook’s iPhone, the accused terrorist in San Bernardino shooting case, The FBI paid over one million US dollars to an Israeli company to break into the locked iPhone used by a Pakistani-American shooter involved in the San Bernardino terror attack.

Speaking at a security conference in London, FBI director James Comey just hinted about the money shelled out over the iPhone. However, he did not give the exact amount that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) paid to unlock the iPhone.

Speaking about the cost of the tool to hack the iPhone, he said,

The cost of the tool was more than I will make in the remainder of this job, which is seven years and four months, for sure.

Referring to his statement, the Washington Post said the FBI Director makes USD 185,100 a year. As a result, Comey’s remarkable statement surely implies that the FBI paid at least USD 1.3 million to hack into the iPhone.

The professional hackers were paid a one-time flat fee for hacking the iPhone. However, they were not able to find any links to foreign terrorists on the phone.

Being not able to find any foreign links, Comey further said,

I am hoping that we can somehow get to a place where we have a sensible solution or set of solutions, that does not involve hacking and does not involve spending tons of money in a way that is unscalable.

Whatever might be the final outcome, but, is so much money-shelling worth for hacking into an iPhone? There are certainly other ways to find links and connections as well and no one knows those things better than FBI.